Theology group discusses homosexuality for the first time

by John Filiatreau

Click here for this story on the PC(USA) website.
[posted here 2-27-03]

DALLAS -- February 25, 2003 -- The Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church last week acknowledged for the first time what several members called "the elephant in the room" -- homosexuality, the emotionally charged, chronically divisive subject that it had carefully tip-toed around for nearly a year.

Homosexuality -- specifically the question of whether sexually active gay and lesbian Presbyterians should be eligible for ordination to church leadership -- was at the top of the list of matters the task force was created to address, but had been conspicuously absent from the agendas of the group's first four meetings.

The 20-member committee managed to broach the subject in Dallas after stripping the pachyderm down to what was colorfully described as its "exegetical underwear."

The theme of the Feb. 20-23 meeting was "The Bible, creeds and confessions in faith and life."

The conversation about homosexuality was based on three texts: Romans 1:18-32, an unequivocal condemnation of a litany of "dishonorable passions," among them homosexual behavior; "Struggling with Scripture," an address by William C. Placher to a meeting of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians; and a chapter from "The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation," by Richard B. Hays.

Placher, a professor of philosophy and religion at Wabash College, and Hays, a professor of the New Testament at Duke Divinity School, reviewed the same Biblical texts, including the aforementioned excerpt from Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and offered similar interpretations of the scriptures, but arrived at markedly different conclusions.

Placher ended with a judgment that "same-sex intercourse … falls into the category of what Paul and others assumed from their culture, not what the Bible teaches," comparing its treatment in Romans to other scriptural judgments about slavery and divorce.

Hays, on the other hand, concluded that homosexual conduct is sinful and that, "Unless they are able to change their orientation and enter a heterosexual marriage relationship, homosexual Christians should seek to live lives of disciplined sexual abstinence."

Frances Taylor Gench, a Union Seminary professor who has adroitly led the group in several of its Bible studies, described the task at hand as "bringing the text into our own time and place so that it is the living Word" and striving to "understand why people who take the Bible's authority seriously disagree about what it says."

Mark Achtemeier, a professor of theology and ethics at the University of Dubuque Seminary in Iowa, pointed out that both authors "see this Romans passage … as a key to this issue" and "agree on what the text says"-- that, in Paul's view, homosexual behavior is unequivocally sinful.

Barbara Wheeler, the president of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, noted that both authors "come to the same conclusion on the policy issue of ordination -- that homosexuality should not be a barrier more than" any other behavior deemed sinful.

John "Mike" Loudon, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, FL, said Placher and Hays both clearly "want to make sure we are not being shaped by the values of society," but said Hays is "much more confident to identify the same-sex behavior Paul had around him and the same-sex behavior we have around us."

After Achtemeier said "the plain meaning" of the passage ought not to be dismissed, Victoria Curtiss, co-pastor of Collegiate Presbyterian Church in Ames, IA, observed that another scriptural passage "says women shouldn't speak in church," and added, "I don't think I misunderstood the plain sense of the text in that case."

Milton "Joe" Coalter, the acting president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, offered what he called "a question about silence," noting that Jesus never says anything about homosexuality. "Would not Jesus have spoken out if it was important?" he asked.

Curtiss noted that Hays based his argument partly on the experience of a friend who "struggled with his homosexual orientation," and might have arrived at a different conclusion if the friend had been a homosexual who was comfortable with his or her orientation. Loudon commented that, in his pastoral life, "I've never known anyone who didn't struggle with it." Then Achtemeier observed that he hasn't met many heterosexuals who don't struggle with issues of sexuality.

Coalter said the collective judgment of Presbyterians on the issue ought to carry more weight than any individual's opinion. He said the Reformed tradition holds that "there is safety in numbers in finding the Holy Spirit's leading -- that's why we get together in committees." But Achtemeier warned against making the debate a battle between "party lines" espoused by people arguing from "those little parochial frameworks."

At the end of the discussion, it didn't seem that anyone's opinions had changed, but several task force members said they felt that some "common ground" had been discovered.

Jack Haberer, pastor of Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX, pointed out that, "Although we disagree in our conclusions, that doesn't mean we disagree at every point along the way." Curtiss said the exercise showed that "conflict over the interpretation of scripture can be healthy."

Many members said it was less threatening to argue about the opinions of Placher and Hays than it might have been to discuss their own views. Curtiss spoke of the "safety of having two other viewpoints to take refuge in."

All seemed relieved to have broached a potentially explosive topic without becoming uncivil. Achtemeier said, "I couldn't imagine a better way of starting to engage the elephant in the room without engaging people's defenses," and suggested that the group might try a similar exercise "if down the road we should find ourselves at loggerheads."

Curtiss said the value of the conversation reflected "all the intentionality that preceded our gathering." Sarah Sanderson-Doughty, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lowville, NY, said it showed "the way that we need each other in the dialectical process."

Jean S. "Jenny" Stoner, an elder in East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church in Vermont, said she appreciates "the faith it takes to look at the background and the big picture before going on to the issues before us." Wheeler said the discussion demonstrated the value of the group's decision to "work in a consensual manner."

Achtemeier dispelled the buoyant mood somewhat with the comment, "It may be that we're being awfully, awfully optimistic about what's happening among us."

Others expressed similar misgivings.

Loudon said he was "exhilarated" that the group was "starting to swim into the waters for which we were formed," but still sensed a "big dark cloud" in the group's future.

Coalter expressed "real concerns about August 2004," when the task force is to begin grappling with the theological disputes that have riven the church, including the ordination issue. He said he was "still uncomfortable with delaying overly much working toward some conclusions," and speculated that the group's "consensual ethos holds us back from some struggle."

"Raised voices are not a bad thing," he contended.

Similarly, Achtemeier said he was "nervous about leaving all the hard work until the end," and Curtiss said, "We need to start looking at some of the issues."